CODEX:INQUSITION 6TH EDITION

Hello gamers and welcome back to Games Knight where we kick of 2014 with a review of Codex: Inquisition by GW from the 40k universe. Before we head into the review though, let’s take a moment to address what has been going on at GW in January. Not a great start for GW as stock prices dropped by 24% leading many fans, and not so fans, to start predicting the end is nigh for GW. I agree and disagree with this statement. I think it is the start of the decline for GW that much is clear. Many gamers have simply had enough of GW’s ever rising price lists and also the lack of imagination and lack of development with their existing flag ship products. Although 2014 will herald a new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and the new Dwarf miniatures do look stunning, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. With the decision last year by GW to kill off their specialist games like Necromunda, Battle Fleet Gothic and Inquisitor, that leaves 40K, WFB and LOR as the 3 games GW have in their arsenal. These are great games on their own but, again, nothing new for fans to get too excited about. Rumour control has been running wild this past month and one of the rumours I find interesting is GW to take on a concept of making the games ‘living editions’ doing away with new edition releases. If GW were to do this would that mean the end of new box sets or would we get them more regular with updated rules books with new FAQ’s?

Despite all this and, as I say, I do think GW are on the decline now, this is a decline we won’t see come to a head for another good 4-5 years. Love GW or hate them, they are still leaps and bounds ahead of other games companies such as Mantic Games and Privateer Press. It is a gulf that is shrinking year by year and I personally predict Mantic Games will be the next GW but it is a long way off yet. Another GW change this year has seen their monthly magazine publication White Dwarf switch to a weekly release and a new monthly magazine entitled Warhammer Visions. For me White Dwarf magazine was at its zenith in the 90’s and I have brought it on and off since and stopped buying it the last few months. The only reason I can see them doing this would to be tie in with the ‘living edition’ formats as this would herald weekly releases as opposed to monthly. Remember to take this with giant salt rocks, just my opinion.

Anyway, without further ado here is this week’s review –

 

CODEX: INQUISITION 6^TH EDITION

First things first with this release it is digital only which I will be honest I am not a fan of at all. I am not opposed to their being a digital option of a product but take serious exception to products being digital only. I was very surprised that GW decided to make this release digital only with the Inquisition being a firm fan favourite amongst ardent Imperium players. I am confident a physical Codex would have sold very well but GW seems to favour digital products more and more at present. There is plenty of fluff on the history and origins of the Inquisition but this is all pretty much a copy and paste from previous Daemon Hunters / Grey Knight codex releases although there is background on some different Ordos not previously mentioned in the Ordo Chronos, Ordo Scriptorum, Ordo Machinum & Ordo Sicarius.

Presentation wise it is good but again I feel making this a digital only release has diminished the sheer brilliance of the work art displayed in the Codex. Artwork always looks better on paper, period. The anatomy of the Codex is easy enough to follow with it being familiar to recent codex releases for 6^th edition.  I was very pleased to see the Inquisitorial warbands left the same as they are listed in the current Grey Knights codex along with Coteaz retaining his ‘I’ve been expecting you’ and ‘Lord of Formosa’ special rules. This now leads us to the very cool thing about this Codex…. At last 40k fans can without hindrance or restrictions field an Inquisitorial army. It has been possible before but in a very painstaking way, this Codex makes it  a lot easier and also allows you to add and Inquisitor and his retinue to your existing army, even if not an Imperium based force!

INCLUDING INQUISITORS IN YOUR ARMY

When you choose an army, Inquisitors may be taken as a primary detachment or as a

special form of allied detachment known as an Inquisitorial detachment.

If you take Inquisitors as a primary detachment, use the Inquisitorial detachment Force

Organisation chart instead of the primary detachment Force Organisation chart.

Alternatively, an army may include an Inquisitorial detachment in addition to any other

detachments. Other detachments, such as allied detachments, additional primary

detachments and fortifications can be taken normally. So, for example, you could field an

army with an Imperial Guard primary detachment, an allied detachment of Space

Marines, and an Inquisitorial detachment.

The Inquisitorial detachment Force Organisation chart has boxes corresponding to

different battlefield roles. Each black box is a choice you must take in order to include

this detachment as part of your army, whilst each grey box is a unit you can include as

part of this detachment.

If you take the Inquisitorial detachment as your primary detachment, then

Inquisitorial Henchmen Warbands are scoring units.

 

ORDO GAMES KNIGHT

Despite hating the fact this is a digital only product I will give this product a 4 out of 5 rating as GW finally give the fans a product they really want. Fans of the Inquisition, like me, have wanted this for a long time and here it is. I think this gives a lot of scope to Narrative driven 40k campaigns and kit-bashing projects to make up your own Inquisitor and retinues. It certainly inspired me to do so and I will show what I came up with next week here on Games Knight.

That’s going to do it for this week, have fun with whatever hobby projects you delving into and if you feel like sharing any opinions then get in touch – contactgamesknight@gmail.com

 

GAMES-KNIGHT 2013 REVIEW

Hello gamers! Apologies for the absence the last few weeks, been caught up in Xmas preparations and the like. For my final post of 2013 I thought I would have a little look back at what has transpired gaming wise the past year and put it into a little review.

The start of the year saw me playing a hell of a lot of 40k and my first play in a organised tournament with the Sutton Immortals. My Grey Knights project has been an enjoyable one and one I am still trying to finish off! All my Grey Knights are done but its the Inquisitorial Warbands that take the time to do simply because they capture my imagination and I keep kit-bashing henchmen. The second half of 2013 saw my interest in 40k cool somewhat which was down to two main factors. The first being that I have tried lots of different game systems this year and have taken up 2 new main hobbies in Dropzone Commander and the X-Wing miniatures game. The second reason is a combination of not enjoying playing 40k due to the majority of 40k players seemingly being only interested in 'win-listing' and GW's marketing tactics only encouraging this in the majority of their customers. Now let me make something clear here, I am still going to be playing 40k and there will be plenty of 40k coverage on Games-Knight in the future. I am massive fan of the 40k universe and I still fully intend to bring a massive 40k campaign to the blog in the future. The trick to 40k these days is to find the right people to play with. 40k for me has always been about playing with the miniature you want in your collection and fighting out exciting. narrative driven battles and campaigns. I find that there are very few 40k players of this mind set left in the hobby and have been replaced by players who are only interested in putting an army list together that takes away a level playing field before a single dice has been rolled.

Despite the disappointment with 40k this year I have had lots of great things to enjoy about my hobby. For one my painting has improved. I am more confident and don't balk at painting anything these days, not even 10mm miniatures! I have played a lot of different game systems this year and lots of different board games which I have enjoyed thoroughly. Board games have made a huge come back in 2013 and this is a trend I am sure will continue in 2014. Discovering Star Wars The Card Games LCG was another highlight for me and remains one of my favourite games. LCG's have also grown in popularity and again I am sure this is another trend that will continue into 2014.

My discovery of Dropzone Commander was without a doubt my favourite hobby moment this year. The 2 player starter set really got me excited as did delving into a new game system and universe to play in. There will be plenty more Dropzone Commander content in the coming months here at Games-Knight picking up where we left off. I will be showcasing painted UCM and Scourge armies and sharing a campaign systems idea which you can play purely with the contents of the 2 player starter set.

Along with Dropzone Commander I have also become a massive fan of the X-Wing Miniatures game from Fantasy Flight. I am a little late to the party with this game but I will be sharing my journey into this game system with you all here on Games-Knight in the months to come. If you are an older gamer like myself and don't have time for painting miniatures or complex game mechanics then make sure you check out the X-Wing  Miniatures content as this game will certainly appeal to you!

So that is my year in gaming but what of the gaming year in general? Well its safe to say there is lot more diversity in the gaming industry now and GW are not having it all there own way. Mantic Games go from strength to strength as the release of their latest game system 'Deadzone' reached fever pitch proportions at the start of December. For me personally Dropzone Commander was game of the year but in the eyes of the industry I think Deadzone has stolen the show and will be big game in 2014. Games like War Machine and Malifaux also grow in popularity along with Dust Tactics, Infinity, Flames of War and Mercs.

2014 promises to be a very exciting year hobby wise. A new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles is due which should see a new box set released. The X-Wing Miniatures game will be introducing capital ships in its wave 5 releases. Dropzone Commander will have a new faction out next year in the form of the human resistance fighters along with new rules enabling you to ally them with an existing UCM army. Kickstarter will be bringing us the AVP board game which is something I am looking forward too immensely, I am also hoping the legal issue Game Zone are encountering with there revamp of HeroQuest are resolved and we see the 25th anniversary project come to fruition.

So what can you look forward to seeing on Games-Knight in 2014? Plenty! There will be content on 40k, DZC, X-Wing Miniatures, Top Trumps and lots of miniature showcases, kit bashing ideas, campaign ideas and the usual game reviews.

So with that I wish you all a Merry Xmas and a very happy new year. Have  agreta holiday peeps and I will see all next year. Ciaran.

     

SPANISH BOARD GAME INQUISITION 2014?

No one ever expected the Spanish Inquisition and I don't think any one in the gaming community was expecting 2 knock out board game releases set for 2014 from 2 Spanish gaming companies.

First up is the Alien vs. Predator : The Hunt Begins board game that is building up momentum on Kickstarter right now by Prodos Games the creators of Mutant Chronicles. I think this is a dream come true for a lot of gamers and is for me being a massive fan of the AVP movies. The Boxed Game AvP – The Hunt Begins is a self-contained gaming experience, a fusion of mission and narrative driven Board Game and Table Top War Game. A family game where 1 (yes you can play on your own) or more players can sit down and play through their own narrative and develop their own characters and objectives over many inter-linked games. Or players can sit down and play a ‘free for all’ with games like ‘Survival’, ‘Last human/Alien/Predator standing’, ‘capture the objective’ etc. filling an hour or two of your evening or raining Sunday afternoon. Their is also an idea of linking this board game to a wider table top AVP game where players can control armies of Colonial Marines against whole nests of Aliens!


The miniatures are stunning which is the normal standard Prodos have set for their miniatures and fit the feel and vibe of the AVP cannon very well. This project has smashed through most of its stretch goals already and is no doubt all set for a very popular release date of 2014. Rest assured this one that will entering collection next year and as always I will be sharing my journey into this game with you all here on games-knight, providing the Weyland Corp. don't get to me first.....

For our 2nd Spanish export we move from the world of high octane Sci-fi board games to classic fantasy adventure! This news has only hit the gaming community over the last week and has unsurprisingly had a favourable reaction from gamers of my age in particular. From the minds of Gamezone Miniatures comes the 25th anniversary edition of HeroQuest. This is huge! I cant hide my excitement of this news so I am not even going to try! The original MB release in 1989 was my fist taste of gaming action and what hooked me into gaming so I have a lot if sentiment for this game and still play it today. If you had asked me if I would ever wanted this game revamped by anyone else other then GW / MB then I would have said no, but now its happened I am not worried at all and really looking forward to seeing how this project pans out. The official news on the Gamezone Miniatures website is that this is to be a 'crowd funded' project which to me means Kickstarter.

Lets take a look at what the game would offer -

-1 BOARD – ALFA Model

      Reversible, with two usable sides, Side A is with a Classic Dungeon simulation, while side B brings into play ruins and exterior scenes. The squares on the board are slightly larger than the original to provide more comfortable figure movement and scenery/element placement

- 1 MENTOR SCREEN

      The game screen is for dual use. The Mentor Side (inside) displays the tools that the Game Master will need to direct the game, creature stats, game symbol keys codes, weapon characteristics, etc.. On the Player Side (outside) there will be an illustration of a temple on which the essential rules for the adventures will be written into stone like reliefs. This way any novice player at a glance will have all the necessary information they need without having to badger the Director with continual basic questions.

-8 DICE

      The 25th model dice will have squares representing boxes instead of round dots. The 25th model battle dice will have the already known symbols but appear more consistent with the actual skills or the characters / current technology available.

-1 RULE BOOK

      Rule book, highly illustrated, to explain every rule that needs it with a corresponding clarifying   image.

- ADVENTURE VOLUME I “No Threat Unanswered”

      In this Book you will find the missions that Mentor will entrust to the adventurers. Formatted as standard stand alone adventures or missions that will continue as if chapters in a series. Others will be set up in an independent campaign structure that will evolve in parallel within a common storyline. The total overall quantity of adventures will be around 50.

-8 Adventurer Cards

      The Adventurer Cards will have the values ??and the different characteristics between the male characters and their female counterparts. Life and mind/will points are shown in wheel-cut windows in which the corresponding number is displayed and can be changed by rotating disks, added to the rear or the cards. This way you will not be writing the values ??of each character on a separate sheet, you can modify them directly in the windows that each character card offers.

-86 Cards

      Every spell element in the cards is written in Latin and the symbols used have their origins in classical antiquity

      The Chaos spells are a recourse that will only be utilized by the Evil Wizard player.

-46 PLASTIC RESIN FIGURES

      The figures will have the standard Gamezone® miniature size of 28mm/30mm. This way is a sure way that they will also be compatible with other popular miniature games.

      Plastic Resin is a high quality material with and extraordinarily high degree of detail, making for a clear and clean finished product. The presence of bubbles, common in all resins to a larger or smaller effect, has been practically eliminated through the modeling process. The final weight of the miniatures is lighter.

      The bases are round and transparent; being round helps with easier figure movement across the board and the transparency of the base allows players to effectively see the floor of the map their characters are standing on. The figures will be different colours the same as the miniatures in the original box set.

-48 Resin SCENE ELEMENTS

   These elements will also be made of resin as this allows us to create pieces with greater details. Some elements will come separate and will need a simple assembly.

- The wardrobe pieces are interchangeable making verity a real possibility in the 25th.

- The doors will be able to be open or closed as the door frame will have hinges.

- The treasure chests will have open able lids to see what is inside. The interior will be empty and ready to have a treasure inserted in the form of a token that will represent a bag of coins, a pile of coins, or an empty bottom with a singular coin. The interior chest tokens are also interchangeable with other elements .

- The gargoyle pedestal has a space for a treasure token when the figure is removed

- The Cell door can open or close depending on the mission guidelines

- The sarcophagus also has an area to add treasure tokens if you wish to show different contents

-35 Resin Marker Tokens

All with volume to represent scenery and not the cardboard tokens of old.

All very impressive I am sure you will agree and I will be backing this project via Kickstarter for sure.

So what do you guys think about these 2 projects? Excited? Not impressed? All opinions are welcome at Games-Knight so please get in touch - contactgamesknight@gmail.com.

Ciaran

THE WALKING DEAD HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Greetings gamers and a Happy Halloween to you all! With the Halloween theme being present at the moment I thought I would share a board game I discovered last year that deserves some lime light and where better to show it off than right here on Games-Knight. The board game in question is The Walking Dead Board Game from Cryptozoic Entertainment which is based on the popular TV series The Walking Dead. I am a fan of the TV series so this appealed to me straight away when I discovered the game but there are points to it that would appeal if not a franchise I am a fan of which I will share with you. This game was released during the period of the 1^st and 2^nd series so you will see characters from those series who – spoiler alert! – may no longer be part of the living.

UNBOXING THE WALKING DEAD BOARD GAME

As you open the box you will instantly find that the game is very self-contained and has minimal components required to play the game, which is not a bad thing. There are no miniatures in this game just cards and tokens. The rule book is a mere 5 pages long, including a FAQ, and is explained in a very simple, no fuss manner. And my favourite touch about the layout and presentation of the game is the roll-out playing mat instead of a traditional cardboard gaming board. This is a unique touch that gives the game a real charm about it and also makes it a game you can play pretty much anywhere as it is very easy to transport. Ideal for if you like to take your board games down to your local hobby / gaming club. Presentation wise I like the look and feel to it and the minimal aspect to it is quite refreshing as some games can be a bit over powering when you have tonnes of components to use.

THE WALKING DEAD BOARD GAME RULES

There are 2 scenarios you can play with The Walking Dead board game, Survival Mode and Team Game. Both scenarios are for 2-4 players.

In survival mode each player selects a character card and its matching game piece. Players star the game at camp. Then with the corresponding game cards make an Ally pool and a Scrounge deck and place each location tile next its matching corner. The object of the game is that the first player who collects all 4 of the location tiles and returns to base camp is the winner. Of course there will be lots of flesh eating walkers to try to prevent you from doing this and subsequently mean that most players will star the games as survivors but end it as walkers! Any player who doesn’t survive becomes a walker and plays out the rest of the game as a zombie, turning on his friends and family i.e. the other survivor players. I like this as it means no one has to sit out the rest of the game when that player dies, they can come back as a walker and still be involved in the game.

A survivor turn sequence is resolved in 4 steps –

1.       Movement – roll a die and move that many spaces.

2.       Resolve the space you land on if any encounters.

3.       Resolve any encounter cards you are asked to draw.

4.       End your turn.

 

When players die they come back as walkers and the game then turns to a team zombie vs. team survivor affair. A walker’s turn sequence plays out as follows –

1.       Roll a die and move up to that many spaces.

2.       Play a walker card.

3.       End you turn in which you can discard a walker card form your hand if you wish and also draw walker cards until you have a hand of 4.

 

The Team game sis exactly the same only at the start players pick sided if they are to start as survivors or walkers. Team zombie only have to kill both survivor players to win! You will find with this game that it is nearly impossible to win as a survivor! This isn’t a bad thing as it makes for a very challenging game, which given its simple set up and game mechanics is very impressive.

 

GAMES-KNIGHT SURVIVOR CAMP

This really is a super little game which combine simplicity and fun to bring a great board game to the table. Avid gamers or family after some light-hearted fun will not be disappointed with this product and I thoroughly recommend it. Here at Games-Knight I will award The Walking Dead board game 4 brains out of 5, come on! It’s Halloween!

 

OTHER GREAT ZOMBIE GAMES FOR HALLOWEEN

Alongside this game also check out Last Night on earth from Flying Frog productions. I had the chance to play this a few weeks back and it plays really well and is very, very challenging! Put it this way, I killed 14 zombies and still didn’t win! Lots of different scenarios to play and some cool little miniatures to play with make this another fun game for a night’s gaming making it another 4 brains out of 5.There is also Zombies!!! By twilight Creations and the very popular Zombicide.

That’s your lot for this week, hope you have enjoyed this week’s post and have a great Halloween. Next week it is back to my coverage of Dropzone Commander as I show off my painted UCM faction. Till then have fun and be safe. Ciaran-contactgamesknight@gmail.com

 

    

 

 

 

DROPZONE COMMANDER : RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Hello and welcome to the 2^nd week of my coverage of Dropzone Commander by Hawk Wargames. In this week’s post we look at the rules and some of the game mechanics that I feel make this game very appealing.

THE TURN SEQUENCE

The game turn is broken down into 4 phases –

·         Phase 1 : Initiation

·         Phase 2 : Activation

·         Phase 3 : Actions

·         Phase 4: Roundup

 

Every game turn always start with the initiation phase which plays as follows –

 

ROLL FOR INITIATIVE – Each player rolls a 1D6 and adds the command value of their highest ranking commander present on the table. Please note to add you command value to you 1DR roll you need the command deck of cards which you do not get with the 2 player starter set. This is not an essential you must have and can easily just roll 1D6 and go with the highest roll, dicing off if there is a tie. The winner of the initiative roll may elect to reduce his initiative score to 1 making his opponent go first which sometimes can be a good tactical play.

 

DISCARD CARDS – If command cards are being used then you may discard any unwanted command cards at this time.

 

DRAW CARDS – Again, if command cards are being used then this is an opportunity for players to replenish their command cards.

 

CLEANUP – Any special effects form special rules may now be addressed.

 

ROLL FOR RESERVES – Each player, in order of initiative, may roll 1D6 for each battlegroup they have in reserve to see if their much needed reserves can be called upon this turn.

 

We now progress in phase 2 of the turn sequence: ACTIVATION. The player with the highest initiative activates battlegroup. Activating a battlegroup means that player can now perform the action phase. Once the first player has completed his actions with his battlegroup then the 2^nd player with the 2^nd highest initiative may activate a battlegroup and so on. Phase 2 continues in this fashion until all battlegroups have been activated and completed their action phase.

 

In the action phase battlegroups can move, shoot, engage in close quarter battle, embark and disembark troops and APC’s via dropship carrier. Note that players can shoot then move or vice versa. This is a mechanic I like as it give players more offensive or defensive as the case may be, capabilities.

 

Once all actions have been completed by each battlegroup in the player’s force it is onto the roundup phase. Any special rules and effects which occur in the roundup phase now take place by order of initiative. Players should check the victory conditions of the scenario they are playing. If the conditions are met or the number of stated turns has elapsed then the game is over. If not, the turn is over.

 

AIRCRAFT IN DROPZONE COMMANDER

This is a game mechanic I really like in this game so I want to share it with you guys out there. Just like the command cards, you do not get any aircraft fighters in the starter set so this isn’t a must have section but if you anything like me you will add some aerial support to you battle groups.

 Aircrafts in Dropzone Commander always start in readiness or reserve so you have to see if air support is available to be called upon at that time. This is done by rolling 1D6, on a roll of 2-6 air support may be called in to perform an attack run or make an interception. On a roll of a 1 however, the aircraft remains in readiness/reserve. I really like this as it reflects the realistic logistical side of calling in an air strike and that it cannot always be relied upon.  If the roll was successful, a fighter aircraft can enter the game from any table edge and then follows a pre-designated attack flight path laying down fire upon any enemy unit along that flight path. Your opponent has the chance to use his anti-air units to try gun you down whilst making this attack run, or even call in air support of his own on an intercept course with the attacking aircraft. Likewise, an aircraft called in to perform an interception will have to dodge the anti-air units of the opponent in question. It almost breaks down into a mini game in the game! I do not think this is a bad thing though and I think the rules for the aircraft in Dropzone Commander have been well thought out and add another level of excitement to the game.

 

THE GAMES-KNIGHT COMMAND BUNKER

I really like the rulebook you get for this game; it is one of the nicest rule books I have read for a long time. All the rules are explained in simple terms and have diagrams with them depicting in game play to help give you a good mental image on how this will look in action. I am massive fan of the rules for aircraft in this game. It gives them an important role to play in terms of the game but doesn’t lend itself to aircraft being a overpowered solution for players to dominate the game which is what has spoilt 40k 6^th edition in my opinion. Other rules I liked that I will quickly mention was the LZ rules for dropships, including ‘LZ is hot!’ special rule, and 'exceptional ground' which grants tanks and APC’s 2+ inches to their normal movement value if moving on exceptional ground i.e. road.

I am itching to start playing this game! I am still painting my UCM and will start assembling the scourge army alongside this and start painting them once my UCM army is complete.  Once I have the 2 forces from the starter set completed I will be getting some game sin and reporting back to you here on Games-Knight my gaming experience with Dropzone Commander. I have a feeling it is going to be a very, very good experience at that.

That’s going to do it for this week, we take a little break from Dropzone Commander next week as I bring you a Halloween themed post next week looking at zombie board games and in particular The Walking Dead board game. Please join me for that next week and in the meantime feel free to contact me regarding this week’s post on Dropzone Commander or anything else hobby related at – contactgamesknight@gmail.com. Till next week take care. Ciaran.